1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of telecommunications, and in particular, to methods, products, and systems for a geographic representation of end user fixed wireless communication devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
People and businesses are demanding higher bandwidths from their communication providers. Consequently, the communication providers are looking for ways to increase the bandwidth of their systems using broadband technologies. Broadband technologies are generally referred to as systems that deliver a bandwidth at or above 64 kbps. Broadband technologies can communicate over downstream channels and upstream channels. The customer receives data from another device or system over the downstream channels. The customer transmits data to another device or system over the upstream channels.
Broadband Wireline Systems
One example of a broadband technology is Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service. DSL service can carry both voice signals and data signals at the same time in both directions. DSL service also can carry call information and customer data. DSL service is typically comprised of twisted-pair wires that connect a customer to a central office. The central office comprises a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) that provides the DSL service to the customer. Unfortunately, the speed of DSL service is limited by the distance between the customer and the DSLAM. Customers located too far from the DSLAM may not be able to receive high-speed service. Also, there may not be enough customers within a particular area to make it economical to install a DSLAM. The quality of DSL service is also limited by the quality of the copper wire that connects the customer to the DSLAM. Furthermore, DSL service does not work over Digital Loop Carrier (DLC) lines.
Another broadband technology is cable modem service. The cable modem communicates with a device or system over a coaxial cable. The coaxial cable is typically the same coaxial cable used to receive cable television. The cable modem service can be one-way or two-way. In a two-way system, the coaxial cable carries both the upstream channels and the downstream channels. In a one-way system, the cable modem receives data on the downstream channels over the coaxial cable and transmits data on the upstream channels over a phone line. Unfortunately, the cable modem uses up valuable bandwidth on the phone line in the one-way system. Also, the upstream bandwidth is small over a phone line.
Broadband Wireless Systems
Another broadband technology is broadband wireless service. Customers that subscribe to broadband wireless service communicate with a head end. In a one-way wireless system, a transmitter antenna for the head end broadcasts wireless signals to the customer on the downstream channels. The transmitter antenna is a satellite antenna or a land-based antenna. The customer transmits data to the head end over another medium, such as a phone line or a cable modem, on the upstream channels. One example of a one-way wireless system is a Digital Satellite System (DSS) from DIRECTV.
A specific type of broadband wireless system communicates over Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) frequencies and Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS) frequencies. The MMDS frequencies range from 2500 MHz to 2686 MHz. The MDS frequencies range from 2150 MHz to 2162 MHz. In a typical MMDS system, the bandwidth of the upstream channels is about 6 MHz. The upstream bandwidth is divided into subchannels. Each subchannel has a bandwidth of 200 kHz. In other examples, each subchannel has a bandwidth of 166 KHz.
A head end manages the upstream and downstream channels with the customer. The head end also interfaces the customer with communication networks such as the Internet. The head end includes a base antenna comprised of a transmitter antenna and one or more receiver antennas. MMDS requires a line of sight between devices that are communicating. Therefore, the antennas are placed on a high building or a mountain to establish lines of sight with the customers.
The transmitter antenna is omni-directional and broadcasts data from the head end to the customers on the downstream channels. In a two-way wireless system, the receiver antennas are positioned to receive MMDS signals transmitted from customers to the head end on the upstream channels. Each receiver antenna is positioned to receive MMDS signals from customers located within a certain area. The areas formed by the antennas are referred to as sectors. The sectors have designated frequency ranges or designated channels.
The head end is comprised of an upstream manager and a downstream manager that control transmissions on the upstream channels and the downstream channels, respectively. As stated above, the upstream channels and the downstream channels are divided into subchannels. One upstream subchannel is a contention channel reserved for signaling, while the remaining subchannels are bearer channels.
In the broadband wireless system, a wireless broadband router is located at a customer premises. The wireless broadband router communicates with the upstream manager and the downstream manager to exchange data. The upstream manager generally operates the channels and/or subchannels in four states: idle, contention, polling, and dedicated. In the idle state, the channels are idle. In the contention state, the upstream manager generates and transmits control signals over one or more subchannels.
For the polling and dedicated states, the upstream manager polls numerous wireless broadband routers to allocate use of the subchannels. Polling is a round robin process to determine which wireless broadband router has access to a subchannel. The upstream manager maintains a queue of the active wireless broadband routers to determine which wireless broadband router is next to transmit over a subchannel for a period of time. The upstream manager keeps an inventory of open subchannels and waiting wireless broadband routers in the queue.
One problem with this fixed wireless MMDS broadband system relates to the central tower with multiple antennas providing coverage to different geographic areas. A wireless broadband router may be misprovisioned to the wrong antenna, which creates interference. Thus, the geographic position of the wireless broadband router is a critical component to understand for performance management.
Various systems within the broadband wireless system collect and store information indicating the performance of the broadband wireless system. Some systems' sole purpose is to collect and store this type of performance information. A performance management system then retrieves some of this performance information from the various systems within the broadband wireless system. Based on user's requests, the performance management system then graphically displays the requested performance information. For example, the performance management system displays a table of wireless broadband routers in a sector and the respective download/upload rate and download/upload number of bytes. Another example is the display of the wireless broadband routers that use the most wireless capacity. Also, the name and address related to any wireless broadband router may be displayed. However, the performance information and customer information is only displayed in a text and table format. An overall view of a sector or adjacent sectors is shown only through a table format.
Prior mapping software solutions such as Autodesk MapGuide provide interactive geographic maps for on-line map presentations with flexible viewing options. These geographic maps have the ability to be re-sized and re-centered. These prior mapping software solutions are used in developing applications that require presentation of geographic maps. Some of the prior mapping software solutions use a specialized database for location information. One such database is called a Spatial database from Oracle. This database provides data management for location information such as road networks and wireless service boundaries. This database also assists any mapping and spatial analysis. Other software programs convert addresses to coordinates such as latitude and longitude, which can then be used in the geographic maps.